Under What Condition Does God Permit Divorce in the New Testament?
1) Direct answer
Only one condition: fornication. The Lord permits putting away “except it be for fornication.” Outside of that, from the beginning it was not so.
2) Scriptural explanation
- Jesus said, “Moses suffered you to put away… but from the beginning it was not so… whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery” (Matthew 19:8–9; see also Matthew 5:32).
- The Bible shows what that exception looks like: Joseph, being espoused to Mary and not yet come together, “was minded to put her away privily,” thinking she had been unchaste before they joined (Matthew 1:18–20). That’s the very setting—betrothal/at the start, before consummation.
- Once joined, the Word says a wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives (Romans 7:2–3). If she departs, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled; and the husband is not to put away his wife (1 Corinthians 7:10–11). If an unbeliever departs, the brother or sister is “not under bondage” to force the cohabitation, but this does not cancel the life‑bond (1 Corinthians 7:15 compared with 7:39).
3) Simple clarifying logic
- From the beginning God made them one flesh. You don’t break what God joined by later sin; you deal with it by repentance and forgiveness. That’s why Jesus did not say “except for adultery,” but “except for fornication”—uncleanness discovered at the start, which shows the union was not cleanly entered.
- So the only God‑given ground to put away is fornication discovered at the beginning. Otherwise, no divorce, and no remarriage while the spouse lives.
4) Reinforcing statement
Now notice, the Bible says it plainly. One exception—fornication at the start. Beyond that, remain as you are or be reconciled.
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What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §26
...f them's got a truth, but not the exact truth. Now, when I go overseas, to make it right, my little family gathers around and we pray with one another, and I commit them to God and they commit me to God. And when we do, we go oversea... I go overseas. Now, I know she loves me; I have confidence in her. And I love her; she's got confidence in me. As long as I love her like that, she don't have any worry about me taking any other woman out. As long as she loves me right, why, there's no need of me thinking about any...
Israel and the Church: Israel in Egypt
53-0325 §18
And now you say, "Well, don't you think if God did a certain thing here, even though His Word does say...?" I said, "No. The Bible said, 'He that takes away or adds to anything that's in this Book, will be taken out of the Book of Life, for him.'" So, there's the reason. Always, by everything (not by experience, or not by what it looks like) but by what God's Word says. Now, the New Testament, Paul said, "Though we or an Angel from Heaven would come and teach any other thing than that which you have heard," that's...
Questions and Answers, Part 2
64-0823E §98
QUESTION: Brother Branham, what is the meaning of a annulment? Are people free to marry or is this just another word for divorce? I would like some information on this. Sure they're married. As long as they take that vow, they're married. Just like a boy, if a boy promises a girl to marry her under good faith, he's obligated to that girl. He's just as good as married her. The only thing the law does, is give you a bill of rights to live together to keep from being common-law husband and wife. But when a man tells a...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 3:E-47
...call themselves apostles." Isn't that presumptuous? What right has a people to try those who call themselves apostles? And how do they try them? Oh, I love this. Here it is in Galatians 1:8, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have (already) preached unto you, let him be accursed." It was the apostles who brought the original Word to the people. That original Word could not change, not even a dot or dash of it. Paul knew it was God Who had spoken to him so he...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 4:E-57
Now you might desire to scold me right here for what I have said. All right. They call themselves Pentecostal and Full Gospel. Let them prove it. At Pentecost the fire came in a cloud and separated over each of them like a tongue, and fell on each one. Where is the fire? They spoke in tongues at Pentecost and the people who listened understood. Where is that? The whole multitude of believers acted like one family. Pentecostals are as badly divided as any group in history. No man durst join himself to the early chur...